Data Security Made Sturdy with BYOD

Bring your own device (BYOD) is at present an emerging and useful method of enhancing employee efficiency and cost-effectiveness in most companies. Most enterprises have provided the liberty to their employees to use their mobile devices for completion of company-related operations. It provides increased flexibility and freedom to the employees to work beyond the work premises and working hours.

The use of BYOD has also raised the concern of data security. Personal devices are being increasingly used to access corporate data. The onus of protecting this data as well the users’ personal applications falls in the hands of the IT personnel. The risk of data tampering or loss of vital data has also escalated with the use of personal mobile devices like smartphones, tablets, and wearables. One of the ways to ensure data protection while advocating BYOD is the use of mobile device management (MDM) system. This software needs to be installed in the personal devices; this protects passwords, avoids remote data wiping, and rejects unsafe WLAN networks. The MDM may seem very effective but has its drawbacks; one of them is the fact that all the devices connected over the same network may not be able to peruse the management functions. MDM also has problems related to the provision of privacy. The MDM when installed gives access to users’ personal information, which may not be accepted by the users. For installing the MDM successfully, the companies should discuss all the functions and access authorization details.

Along with the installation of MDM, the mechanism of mobile application management (MAM) is very useful for protecting company-related applications. MAM ensures that the company applications are made readily available for mobile use by the employees. The shortcomings of using MAM are that it is not operational in popular cloud applications like Gmail, Dropbox, and Slack. Usage policy also needs to be mentioned to ensure data protection to the best. Another essential inclusion in data protection is agentless mobile security. It is the most effective methodology because it does not require an external installation of an agent on the mobile device. It also works well with all cloud-based applications, along with providing data encryption. It also avoids the use of intrusive management software that helps protect the privacy of the users. According to Gartner analysts in 2015, more than half BYOD users with an MDM agent will be managed by agentless solutions.

The successful use of BYOD in data security requires the analysis and compilation of industry profile and its regulations, identification of the devices and its operating system, and also the backing up of the security solutions with relevant legal support. Most of all, any data security system requires the consent of all the stakeholders and conjoined decision-making for its proper functioning.